Barb Cennon holds arguably her most expensive Barbies at her home in Red Wing. (Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

By paNOW Staff

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Barbie mania has hit the world once again with the release of the movie “Barbie” and while it’s raking in millions of dollars at the box office, some local collectors are also celebrating the hype.

Barb Cennon not only owns a massive collection of regular and collector Barbie dolls, but she also has a vanity Saskatchewan license plate that says BARBIES.

She gave paNOW a tour of some of her vast collection at her home in Red Wing north of Prince Albert. She admitted though that there wasn’t enough space to display her entire collection.

“I think it probably got close to 1,500 last time I checked,” she said.

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

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Her collection features a wide range of specialty dolls including holiday editions, world editions, career Barbies and movie collections. The movie collections have her favourite Barbie of all time, depicting Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in the film ‘Gone With the Wind.’ She has three of those dolls in her collection, each with a different dress from the classic movie.

So, how did this massive collection start in the first place?

“The collection started when my daughter was just a little girl in 1990,” she said while holding that exact Barbie still in its package.

“That’s what started the collection that I figured she was going to like and she didn’t catch on with it. I started collecting them myself because my name is Barbie (and) it just kind of went on and on.”

(Derek Craddock/paNOW Staff)

She showcased many valuable Barbies in her collection including the rock legends of the 80s, and a rare Hot Wheels Highway Hauler from 1968.

She also had a variety of Hallmark Barbie ornaments, Happy Meal toys, and a printed guide to each Barbie, its story and how much it’s worth. As for the most expensive Barbies she owns, she believes it’s the limited edition Harley Davidson Barbies. Valued at roughly $350 apiece.

Cennon is not the only Prince Albert area collector as Shannon Lai also took time to speak to paNOW about her collection.

Shannon Lai (lye)’s collection includes over 20 dolls and she has a special collection of Margot Robbie dolls on order. She credits her mom for starting it.

“As soon as my mom knew she was having a girl that’s when she was like let me start collecting Barbies for her”

(Submitted/ Shannon Lai)

(Submitted/ Shannon Lai)

Lai explained she has a personal preference towards female superheroes, but as a former figure skater, she’s also collected all the Olympic medalists.

When news came out there was going to be an actual live-action Barbie movie, Lai admits to feeling very excited.

“It was like an overwhelming feeling,” she said.

As for Cennon, she still hasn’t seen the Barbie movie but hopes to in the near future.

“I wouldn’t be a Barbie collector if I didn’t go and see the movies,” she said.

She is hoping that one day, she can have a larger place to put all 1,500 Barbies and her other collectibles on display for everyone to see.

“My dream one day would be to have a proper place that I could section off all my collections and make them a walk-through museum. You could say I have very beautiful dolls.”

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panews@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @princealbertnow